Applying for Spellborn International

 Why: This was my first true game dev application and my first true grasping of the idea that this is what I want to do in life. I was motivated by El Drijver, lead game designer for The Chronicles of Spellborn, who gave me his regular game design test because I asked him to (ok, forced him to  ), and later pressured me to fill it in because we were both curious about my abilities. Writing for this test was the prime thing that made me realize how fun it must be to be involved in creating a game, especially as a game designer.

How:  I sent an open application e-mail to jobs@ tcos.com, containing a CV, a letter of intent (also known as a Cover Letter) and a short e-mail stating my willingness to openly apply for any job at Spellborn that the team would trust me to do.

Result: Rejected – because I am a Romanian citizen and as such, I require additional paperwork which is almost impossible to obtain by the Netherlands official organization that deals with foreign work employment. If I were hired at Spellborn, I would have rejected me in the exact way. Getting a foreigner approved for a job is a very painful experience for a company and can take up to 6 months, during which time you could receive a governmental NO at any time. As a company, I would definitely stay away from any similar process, no matter how good the candidate might be ( and I certainly am not).  

Details: I was unaware that Romanians cannot freely work in Holland, because, as one of the founders of the European Union, I thought that this country would have been one of the first to agree to free labor market rules in EU.  It turns out that, in fact, Holland is cautious about receiving Romanian and Bulgarian workers, and that there are only 2 true ways to get a legal job in this country (I won’t comment one of these ways, because we’re all professionals J ) .

The only way that applies to a person like me is this to be so good, that a company would be willing to go through a lengthy process of demonstrating that there is no other Netherlander or EU citizen able to fill this potential post better than you. Of course, this is practically as impossible as it sounds. Here is the website that enlightened me (trust me, it took me a while to find it): http://www.undutchables.nl/working-in-the-netherlands/work-permit/

Quoting from Undutchables – The Recruitment Agency for Internationals:

Citizens of Bulgaria and Romania are not able to work in the Netherlands free of restrictions. In most cases, an employer still needs to ask the Dutch employment Authorities (CWI) for a tewerkstellingsvergunning (right to work) for such a candidate. This is a complex procedure, since the employer needs to prove that there is no Dutch citizen sufficiently qualified for the vacancy. For more information, see below "Non EU-citizens". 

Non EU-citizens  

There are really only two ways for a non-EU citizen to get a work permit:

The first way is to apply directly to companies yourself.  You cannot use a recruitment agency like Undutchables because our clients require that all candidates have their paperwork in order. This is because it saves the companies a lot of time as they are looking for people who can begin work immediately.  Applying for a work permit may take up to 6 months and companies just do not have the time to do that. 

If, however, you do apply to companies on your own and they would like to hire you, then they will start the permit process for you.  This is not as easy as it sounds. The company has to prove that it is in their best interest to hire you above all other Dutch and EU candidates.  They also have to prove that the job has been advertised for at least six weeks and that they have interviewed Dutch and EU candidates, yet you were the best person for the job.

If you obtain a work permit through a company, please bear in mind that this work permit is bound to the company. If you stop working for that company, the permit will no longer be valid. 

The second way of getting a work permit is if you have a Dutch or EU partner.  (not quoting anymore because it’s not the case).

Hope this helps! Working at Spellborn is still my very first most favorite dream (but I am entitled to one obsession, so just let me be  )!